Wednesday, July 24, 2013

The Carolina Panthers have officially won NFL.com’s “Greatest Uniform in NFL History” contest in a landslide with their black-on-black look. And that victory will ensure the Panthers will wear their black jerseys, black pants and blue socks together more often in 2013, which won’t be hard – they have worn that combination only once in franchise history.

“Oh, you’re definitely going to see black jerseys and black pants some more now,” said Jackie Miles, Carolina’s head equipment manager since its inception. “This hasn’t gone unnoticed in our building. I’ve always liked the look myself. Now that this has happened, I’m going to push for it more often.”

Miles said the Panthers are locked into black jerseys five times already this season: in the preseason at Philadelphia, and in late-season home games starting in mid-November against New England, Tampa Bay, the New York Jets and New Orleans. They could wear black pants as well for any or all of those games and likely will for at least a couple. Unlike jersey color, the pants color can be decided at the last minute.

The Panthers traditionally wear all white early in the season due to heat concerns when they can (NFL home teams choose jersey color). They will wear white jerseys and white pants for their first four regular-season home games (Chicago and Pittsburgh in the preseason and Seattle and the New York Giants in the regular season). They will then wear their alternate blue jerseys at home against St. Louis Oct.20 and Atlanta Nov.3, Miles said.

The black-on-black look does contain one bolt of color – the electric blue socks. Miles said that wide receiver Steve Smith was responsible for that. Miles kept the black pants a secret from every Panther player except Smith in 2012, but told No.89 about it and then let Smith choose the sock color.

The Panthers debuted the look last November. It has only been worn once, in a 36-14 home loss to Denver, which makes the “Greatest Uniform in NFL History” title seem even more ironic.

The Panthers won the contest despite drawing a No.15 seed in an NCAA tournament style bracket. In an online contest throughout July in which fans could vote an unlimited number of times, the Panthers won six straight matchups on NFL.com – the league’s official website. They got about 90 percent of the vote this week in the final for a victory over the five-time Super Bowl champion San Francisco 49ers, compiling more than one million votes while the 49ers received slightly more than 100,000.

I'm glad to see the Panthers community come together and show Dameshek that he can't be biased against us from the start and tell people to vote for the 49ers in the final video.

On reddit, I saw many users from other fanbases who voted for us because of the obvious bias that Dameshek had against us--and I know that as a Panthers fan, I am tired of us getting ignored by NFL media, and when we aren't ignored, it's an article trashing Cam or the team in general.

I know I voted several hundred times over a few days...I think they heard our message loud and clear at nfl.com and I'm glad to see the team noticed as well. Keep Pounding!

I'm 100% positive that the fans voted with black pants only in mind. Not black jerseys with silver pants. So I hope we wear all black every time we wear black jerseys from now on. Lose the silver pants--nobody is talking about that ensemble.

Re: "I am tired of us getting ignored by NFL media, and when we aren't ignored, it's an article trashing Cam or the team in general."

I agree about the bashing but one thing most don't recognize is that we seem to do much better when not recognized by the media. Fly under the radar, play with a chip on your shoulder (Smitty Style) and let the work on the field do the talking.

I know I voted for the Panthers. Dameshek is an idiot...so much for his inability to sway the voters here. It is time for the Panthers to switch to the all-black Cat look, as it is a menacing look. In addition, work with Nike to find a material that breathes and cools. There are plenty of fans with water mists for the sidelines, as well. Why can't the players wear a Frogg Toggs-like garment around their neck that cools and attaches to the top of their shoulder pads?

Stick with the all-black look and find ways to keep these players feeling cool while they are looking cool!

I love the black on black, but I hate the white on white. We look as intimidating as the Stay Puff Marshmallow Man. I would rather see anything other than that: white on blue, silver on blue, silver on black, white on black, or any combo of blue & black! Either way I love my Panthers! Way to vote Panther Nation!

I don't know why Scott is so stuck on the fact that they have only worn the uniform once time, and in a loss. That has nothing to do with whether or not it's a great looking uniform. The people have spoken.

The Black Jersey with silver pants was in the bracket on the left side and didn't get out of the first round. Win or lose this didn't really matter. The point that was made by the fans is we love the black on black and it needs to become the standard home jersey. And I think that has been accomplished. As for us winning, why hasn't NFL.com acknowledged it? There is nothing on the website about it. They can scream revote or whatever. Every other team's fans could have voted the same way. We just have better fans.

Guys, it is Scott. The "black helmet" question comes up a lot. For now, the Panthers have no plans to make such a helmet -- they are sticking with what they've got there. Even if they changed their mind and decided to, it would require a two-year waiting period to get into the uniform. Just FYI.

I love the panthers, but obviously this contest was rigged. It's obvious a techhie figured out how to game the voting system by hiding behind multiple IP's. But, the contest does prove we have the smartest, sneaky fans!! Love it!

AZIA said...... this is an amazing start to our hopefully great victory.... I don't want to jinks our outstanding Panthers. I have been a Panthers fan since I was 7 yrs old. and never have given up on them. I have defended them and will continue doing so. they have an amazing talent. they just had to recognize it. Lets go Panthers and lets whoop some football ass.